I love silence. It brings peace and inspiration to me. Not that I don’t like people’s company. I just love to enjoy a few minutes of silence a few times everyday.

This is why I like being in libraries and mosques. When I close my eyes and let my ears absorb the distinct sound around me, I ‘feel’ that silence is beautiful – almost-indescribable beauty.

The distinct sound of people tiptoeing carefully, the muffled sound of people chitchatting, the low voice of people reading al-Kitab, the brisk sound of people putting or picking up books on the shelves, the rustling sound of turning pages, the humming of the air conditioner, the sound of birds whistling on the tree branches just outside the library window, the faint sound of people typing on laptops, the ruffling sound of papers crumpled, the almost-unheard sound of people tap tapping their pen on table unconsciously, the sound of photocopy machine buzzing, the sound of vacuum cleaner etc. Oh, I can go on and on and on until I’m out of vocabulary.

Silence, coupled with beautiful place, gives even more bliss to me. Silence at a beach, for example. The sound of waves colliding with sands and stones, the voice of birds – heard yet unseen, the whistling of wind squeezing in between tree branches and leaves, the faint voices of old couple fishing from above a big, high stone and the crackling sound of something moving in the nearby woods.

When you close your eyes and focus your attention on your other senses, you can find almost anything, anytime, anywhere, any place beautiful.

Try sensing – the wind touching the palm of your hands, the faint heat of sunshine gripping your cheeks, the ground or sands in between you toes and the tree bark clutching your back where you lean on it. Let your imagination run wild and your senses might surprise you.

Your sense of smell – the smell of rain, the sweet smell of someone cooking from afar, the smell of the Sun’s heat, the smell of the sea and the faint smell of someone’s perfume. All beautiful.

I read from somewhere I can’t remember, a famous people said:

“If you can find something positive (or beautiful) in everything, you can be a success in anything.”